Rewarding wrong behavior

The recent failure of the Atlanta Public School system is an example of what can go wrong if you have a failure of leadership. At the root of the scandal was leadership that rewarded the wrong behavior and punished the correct behavior.

A report by the Office of the Governor of Georgia showed the school system gave rewards for cheating, including bonuses for principals with “excellent” testing improvement, and threats of job action for not cheating.

It’s a sad story with important lessons: You get the behavior you reward. And ethics must come from the top.